Resources
The following resources can be used to gain in depth knowledge of immigrant laws, timelines and immigrant/refugee experiences.
Suarez-Orozco, Carola and Marco. “Children of Immigration” (Harvard University Press, 2001). This book explores the critical but often forgotten chapter of the immigration experience: the children of immigrants. They make up 20 percent of all youth in the United States and are an integral part of the American fabric. Children of immigrants face immense pressure to be perfect, and this book explores three core themes how the youth in immigrant families adapt to life, school and work in the United States. Family life explores how moving to a new country changes family roles, rules, and ties between parents and children. School adaptation looks at how children learn a new language, fit in with peers and face the challenges of the American school system. Finally, this book addresses social hurdles of poverty, social stress and prejudice on a child's chance to succeed.
Yung, Judy. “Unbound Voices – A Documentary History of Chinese Women in San Francisco.” University of California Press, December 9, 1999. https://www.amazon.com/Unbound-Voices-Judy-Yung/dp/0520218604 .This book contains wonderful examples of interview interrogation questions and documents form 1850 – 1945 showing the real lives, struggles and history of Chinese American women in their own words.
Huynh, Jennifer. “Suburban Refugees – Class and Resistance in Little Saigon.” (University of California Press, March 2025). https://www.ucpress.edu/books/suburban-refugees/paper . This book examines in detail how Vietnamese refugees in California fight displacement, housing insecurity, and inequality in modern American suburbs.
Bui, Thi. “The Best We Could Do. (Abram Books, March 7, 2017). https://www.scribd.com/document/765343680/Thi-Bui-the-Best-We-Could-Do . Key essential student reading for this unit. It chronicles Bui's family's harrowing escape from war-torn South Vietnam in the 1970's, their life as refugees, and Bui's journey toward understanding her parents after having a child of her own.
Yung, Judy and Lee, Erika. “Angel Island – Immigrant Gateway to America. (Oxford University Press, 2010). https://www.alibris.com/search/books/isbn/9780199734085?invid=18852150580&utm_source
An excellent read with many historic photos. While most people are taught about Ellis Island in New York, Angel Island in San Francisco tells a different, deeply moving side of American immigration. While Ellis Island welcomed millions with open arms, Angel Island was often the opposite - a filter, detainer and exclusionist of people. Operating from 1910 to 1940, Angel Island processed over half a million immigrants, not only Chinese, but Japanese, Korean, South Asian, Russian, Jewish and Mexican families. Many were fleeing political persecution. Japan had annexed Korea in 1910, and the Koreans were fleeing a harsh life under Japanese colonial rule. India's population was fleeing for similar reasons; by the early twentieth century, political unrest and massive discontent with British colonialism had set the stage for an unprecedented migration of South Asians to North America. Angel Island: Immigrant Gateway to America is a vital, gritty look at America's complicated history with race, policy, and national identity. Ask the students: Who gets to be an American, and who decides?
“Who Built America?” American Social Histories Project. Reading is essential for this unit to implement the oral history interview assignment. https://whobuiltamerica.org/item/making-sense-of-oral-history .
Waters, Mary, Ueda, Reed and Marrow, Helen. “The New Americans: a guide to immigration since 1965” (Harvard University Press Reference Library, 2007). https://www.amazon.com/New-Americans-Immigration-University-Reference/dp/0674023579 .
Immigration and Ethnic History Society https://immigrationhistory.org . Essentia unit timeline.
Suarez-Orozco, Carola and Suarez-Orozco, Marcelo. “Children of Immigration.” (Harvard University Press, 2001). https://www.amazon.com/s?k=children+of+immigration+suarez+orozco&adgrpid . Explores how growing up in immigrant families affects young people in the United States, looking closely at family changes, school life, and social adjustment.
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